Windsor Community Church Rev Peter Dunn

Transcription

1 Windsor Community Church Rev Peter Dunn Exodus 44:1-45:8 We have reached the climax of the Joseph story with Joseph revealing his identity to his stunned brothers. We are going to take two bites at this family revelation. Today we are going to follow the narrative, do a bit of historical wandering around, and talk a little bit about the momentous moment. we begin by connecting the threads of the historical context again. Was Joseph a real person in real time? Or, is this a great fire side yarn that tells the tribal story of the Hebrews, much like the story of Eric the Red for the Vikings. For me it is a very important question, one that became more important after experiencing the thrill of that archeological dig in Jordan I took part in on the ruin of a middle bronze age city that was visited by Abraham - a city called Sodom in the OT. Joseph was the great grandson of Abraham. Scholars are now pretty certain when Sodom was destroyed therefore when Abraham lived therefore when Joseph would have been in Egypt. This is the upper tel of Tel El- Hammam, the ruins of Sodom. I dug where the red dot is. In the palace area they have found very fine 3,800 year old decorated pottery from Egypt, which Helen as the chief pottery washer and sorter got to handle. Sodom was trading with Egypt and is parallel by Abraham's ability to visit there as well. This is also the southern area from where the Hyksos came from, and from what is being discovered at Tel El-Hammam the bronze age technology was advanced even in Abraham's time - way ahead of the Egyptians. When the Hyksos invaded Egypt early in the life time of Jacob they brought with them superior bronze age technology - another piece of the historical and archeological jig saw. We will be coming back to Tel El- 1

2 Hammam at the end of chapter 49 because this place features in the Joseph story. This is where the threshing floor of Atad was. I came across a short video that must have been taken just after we finished the dig. This is the walk up the tel towards the palace area on the track bull dozed by the Jordanian Army during the 1967 war with Israel. It gives a good idea what a minted bronze age ruin looks like and the working conditions we coped with, incase you are thinking of a career in archeology. The video stops at the place where I spent 5 weeks digging in the dust. - video on power the Hyksos Pharaohs had. I am siding with most biblical scholars who place the Joseph story in the Hyksos period. The Hyksos were a mix of Canaanite and Semetic heritage who invaded Egypt in 1650BC capturing the southern part. They built a new capital at Avaris where the Hyksos Pharaoh's had their palace, so this is where the Joseph story is set. Their rule of Egypt lasted for about 150 years before they were driven out by the Egyptians of northern Egypt base at Thebes aided by an uprising of the Egyptians in southern Egypt. Joseph would have been in the middle the tenuous hold I have said a number of times that the Egyptians were radically racist and hated the Hyksos. In the Joseph story we get indications of this that are cultural markers in the story for the Hyksos link. Last week we read of the feast Joseph put on for his brothers. Did you wonder about the description of the seating arrangements? Listen to this and put it into the cultural context of Hyksos Egypt. Chapter 43:43 The waiters served Joseph at his own table, and his brothers were served at a separate table. The Egyptians who ate with Joseph sat at their own table, because Egyptians despise Hebrews and refuse to eat with them. Hebrews and Hyksos were ethnic cousins and spoke the same language at the time and from Egyptian records they didn't differentiate between the two. It also explains why Pharaoh so quickly promoted Joseph to be his governor with his powers. A Hyksos Pharaoh appointing a Hebrew cousin makes sense in contrast to an Egyptian Pharaoh who would have considered Joseph less than human because he was Hebrew. Three weeks ago when we did a historical context catch up I mentioned another view of when Joseph lived that you might come across. During the reign of Pharaoh Djoser, the second Pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty in the Old Kingdom, Egyptian records tell of a great famine that lasted for 7 years with Egypt's response being governed by Imhotep. Imhotep designed and oversaw the building of Egypts first pyramid, the step pyramid which would 2

3 become Djoser's tomb. This is the first stone built monumental building in Egypt. Before this it was all sun dried mud brick construction. It was part of a huge temple complex that also incorporated a number of very large underground grain silos. The one in the picture is one of Imhotep's silos. So it is an easy step to say Djoser was the Pharaoh and Imhotep was Joseph expect for the fact that this was 1000 years before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the Hyksos. So Imhotep was not Joseph, but as I said before a fascinating historical person all the same. There are some other interesting things about the 3rd dynasty and it's written history. According to them they were descended from a great kingdom founded by the god's that preceded them but was destroyed by a cataclysmic event. The famine stele not only describes Djoser's famine but also the building of the step pyramid by Imhotep on top of a site where their ancestors had also built. This raises an amazing challenge in secular archeology. The picture is of another silo at the step pyramid site. You can clearly see the mud brick lining of the silo near the top. This is Imhotep's work. The shaft continues down into the bed rock, a hard granite rock. With the 3rd dynasty being about years after the end of the neolithic stone age and therefore at beginning of the early bronze age where bronze alloys were still in their infancy, it is being increasingly recognised that Imhotep did not have the technology to dig through granite. Even with the advanced bronze alloys of the Hyksos, bronze cannot cut granite. So who dug through the granite? What has been discovered directly under the step pyramid is mind boggling. Dug into the granite are tunnels that descend 40 metres down to Djoser's tomb. Djoser was Pharaoh for 19 years. He ordered the 3

4 building of his pyramid in the second year of his reign using limestone. The construction time adds up. But when bronze cannot cut granite, who dug the tunnels especially when the Egyptians said they built on top of an existing site of their ancestors? More mystery. There were another three 3rd dynasty Pharaoh's after Djoser. A dynasty is a family line. Every time a dynasty changes, a new family has begun to rule. At some points in Egyptian history Pharaohs come and go like Australian Prime Ministers. 36 years after Djoser dies his family line dies out, or was killed out, and the 4th dynasty begins. The second Pharaoh of that dynasty was Khufu. He had the great pyramid Cheop's built as his tomb. Khufu died a mere 83 years after Djoser. The pyramids are made of limestone blocks that can be cut by bronze chisels and bronze saws using water and sand as the abrasive. However, the pyramids sit on top of a platform made of granite blocks that are smoothly cut with joins you cannot push a credit card into. The blocks, hundreds of them, weigh about 400 tones each. As archaeologists are increasingly pointing out modern technology would struggle to cut, lift and put in place these blocks that come from a quarry 200kms away. Khufu was Pharaoh for 23 years so again while the pyramid was built using sandstone in his life time, the platform is problematic because bronze cannot cut granite. So what do you do with this kind of information? Don't discard it, don't speculate and leave it hanging for another day of archeological discovery. However, if 3rd dynasty Egyptians living 2,600 years before Christ are reflecting some kind of history of a prior great civilisation destroyed by flood and the earth beneath them cracking and buckling, remember that the Bible also remembers an ancient civilisation before the flood. Genesis 6:4 In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times. So as Joseph farewells his brothers on their return to Canaan, the great pyramids of Giza are already 1000 years old. As we have been going through chapters 43 & 44 we have been immersed in Joseph and his brothers having to work through their dysfunctional family history. We have recognised that when Joseph first recognised his brothers the trauma of his being sold into slavery reared up from deep in his soul, and in an instant he was primed for revenge against these ten men who had done it to him. 4

5 Joseph began by putting the fear of death into them as he bullied and harassed them and set them up as thieves and enemies of the Egyptian state so that at any time he could snap the trap and deal with them. However, his actions were being tempered by a deep yearning, a blood tie, to his brother Benjamin, his full brother with Rachael being their mother. This yearning was the one thing at this stage that is saving his brothers from a grisly death. His harsh tactics pay off playing on the fears of the brothers and Jacob back in Canaan. They are perplexed by Joseph, who they call "the man". Finally Jacob caught between the man in Egypt and the famine that is gripping his family, he allows Benjamin to go to Egypt to meet the man under the custodianship of Judah, calling on the mercy of El- Shaddai as they set off. Meeting Benjamin the man is pleased he is safe and being treated much better than he was by the brothers. Now the journey back to Canaan begins and the man acts again. Having set the trap he sends his palace manager after the brothers who knowingly searches the donkeys sacks to finally discover the mans cup with Benjamin. Benjamin is arrested and taken back to the mans palace with the brothers in hot pursuit. They are besides themselves. Their world is crumbling fast, what happened to Joseph is being repeated and they are loosing Benjamin. Why did Joseph have his cup hidden with Benjamin? Simply put, he was never going to let Benjamin go home. He had achieved his goal of securing the safety of his little brother. That's all that mattered to him. The other ten, they could carry on and walk off the edge of the world as far as he was concerned. Having to return home to tell Jacob what had happened was his revenge on them. But something happened with the brothers that he didn't expect, that caused him to pause long enough for Judah to speak. The brothers in a show of complete unity stands with Benjamin refusing to leave him, and now they are challenging the governor of Egypt face to face. They risk everything to confront the man, the ruler of Egypt, and plead for mercy, for the mercy and grace they never extended him all those years ago. El-Shaddai although not seen, is moving powerfully underneath the turmoil of the moment. He is keeping the dream alive. The dream that Joseph would save his family and Egypt from the famine, and save the family because of his promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations and that from his descendants would come the Saviour of the world. This is a big story. A story of God's providence when the human players are almost oblivious to it. Joseph, the brothers, Jacob, Pharaoh, all make their choices and have freedom in their ways. But through and in spite of such freedom, God, El- Shaddai, is at work. His will will not be deflected. 5

6 As Judah stands to speak, I am sure the slave waving the fan to keep everyone cool is wondering how this will end. How does the providence of God meet with the determined ways of ruler and brothers? Judah speaks and pleads his case for mercy centred not on himself, or even Benjamin, but centred on Jacob. Jacob who does not deserve his suffering. Have mercy on him and let Benjamin return is the cry. Joseph has no intention of letting Benjamin return. Judah pleads the substitution of himself for Benjamin. Joseph has no intention of letting Benjamin go. Then the game changer. The short sentence that broke the mans resolve for revenge. Verse 34 For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn t bear to see the anguish this would cause my father! The word "anguish" is the game breaker for the man and the brothers. The man knows anguish intimately. It has lived with him for 22 years. A companion both hated and adored. It troubled him but he did enjoy plotting his revenge. The brothers knew anguish too. Remember what it says in chapter 42:21 as the brothers spoke among themselves We saw his anguish when he pleaded for his life. This anguish infected them too. The guilt of their crime against Joseph and then their crime against Jacob was poison to their souls and their minds. The huge burden of guilt forever weighing on them. Life crushed by guilt is burdensome. Joseph was willing to take his revenge out on his brothers, but they surprised him as they defended Benjamin's freedom together. They were different men from when he was 17. But his anguish over-road feelings of forgiveness. He had some time for Judah because he had tried to rescue him back then, but it didn't work out. Why didn't he chase after his captors and rescue him? His anguish over-road giving into Judah's plea for mercy. But he was not willing to pass the anguish he carried onto his father. He realised that the cycle of hate and revenge reached out far beyond the guilty to impact the innocent as well. As it says in chapter 45:1 Joseph could stand it no longer. He broke, he wept, he let go, he forgave - he returned to his brothers a new man. No longer hiding behind his Egyptian name Zaphenath-paneah given to him by Pharaoh, no longer hiding behind speaking a foreign language through an interpreter, no longer using the make up of an Egyptian overlord to hide his face - his only response to the brothers he once hated, in Hebrew with a little bit of an accent he can only say, I am Joseph, your brother, who you sold into slavery in Egypt. God wins. El Shaddai's providence has triumphed. The war is over. 6

7 Next week we will look at chapter 45 in detail, especially the first eight verses. This is a very powerful passage of Scripture that links us directly to Christ and our faith and you will be amazed at its depth. Remember where this all started. Those two dreams. The bowing down of family and Egypt before Joseph. this story reminds us of God's providence that underpins history. Finish off 7